7 September 2024
We started our vacation to Yunnan with a flight to Kunming, the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. Our hotel in Kunming is the Cachet Boutique Hotel, located in the city centre. After checking into the hotel at about 4 PM, we had the rest of the day to explore the city.
There are several lakes and gardens around Kunming and we chose to go to Green Lake Park, also known as Cui Hu Park (翠湖公园), since it is nearest to our hotel. We booked a taxi ride using the integrated taxi booking (DiDi) function within the WeChat mobile app.
| ** WeChat or Weixin in Chinese is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. ** DiDi is the Chinese equivalent of Uber and it is available in English. |
Our taxi ride seemed to take a long time through the heavy and chaotic downtown traffic on a Saturday afternoon. Electric bikes, scooters and motorcycles were seen zipping across junctions and pedestrians crossing. It was amazing to see that the riders wore no helmets and kids were riding with adults on these bikes. Chaotic it may seem to us, the locals took it all in their stride.
Taxi is relatively cheap in Kunming. Only 14.5 RMB and payment was by WeChat Pay, a function within the WeChat app. The Wechat app is very impressive with many integrated functions within.
Green Lake (Cui Hu) Park
We entered Cui Hu Park via the South gate. There are many eateries and cafes located in the area. We were tempted to go into one of these cafes for coffee but I said, “There are tea houses within the park”. So we forego the coffee break and headed into park.
We were immediately fascinated by a large lake filled with large lotus plants on our right.
We headed towards the center of the park along a path lined with willow trees and crossed a stone bridge called the “Swallow Bridge”.
We tried some street food, namely lamb puff and mini buns. These were quite tasty. Unfortunately, we could not find any suitable tea house or cafe and had to make do with bottled water that we brought along.
The park consists of a group of 4 small sub-lakes linked by bridges in the traditional style. 
There were boats available for rent at one of the lakes.
Water roller ball for kids in Cui Hu lake.
We left the Green Lake Park via the West gate and took a walk down some side streets. There are shops selling the popular Kunming pastries known as the flower cakes and also moon cakes. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a very important festival in China, lands on Tuesday, September 17 which was a few days away. Moon cakes are the food of choice on this holiday. We bought some Yunnan style ham-pied and rose-pied moon cakes to try.
Walking back towards the South gate, we passed by a lady and an elderly man doing Chinese calligraphy with a giant brush on the side walk.
Promenade on the western side of the park.
Calligraphy on the side walk.
We also saw an impressive yellow building that was the History Museum of Yunnan Military Academy and School. Unfortunately the museum was closed at this time. Further down was another official looking building with a MIG-21 fighter jet parked in front.
Yunnan Military Academy is a historical building and is also a museum.
Exploring Kunming Old Street
We took a short walk to the Yunnan Monument to the People's Heroes. The area around was quite crowded and lively. People were dancing to loud music in the plaza.
Many were also snapping photos next to a pair of narrow, yellow and crescent-shaped buildings. This iconic crescent-shaped building was built to commemorate the Allies’ victory in WW 2 and is now operating as the Moon and Chalice Boutique Hotel.
Locals dancing in the plaza in front of the Yunnan Monument to the People's Heroes.
There are many restaurants and eateries in this area known as the Kunming Old Street. I had done some research and ear-marked the Yi Ke Yin Old House Restaurant as our place for dinner.
Street food and souvenir stalls are abundant in the old town.
Dinner at Yi Ke Yin Kunming Old House Restaurant (一颗印昆明老房子餐厅)
We went to a famous old building located within central Kunming for dinner. Kunming Old House Restaurant is a 100-years-old Qing-dynasty style building originally constructed in 1852.
Entering and walking past the usual screen wall of the building was like walking through a time tunnel. We found ourselves standing in the middle of a courtyard that seemed centuries ago, except for some tall modern buildings peeking from behind the old tiled roofs of the two-storied building around us.
The architecture is based on the “Si he yuan” residences, commonly found in Northern China, where there are buildings on four sides with a central courtyard in the middle. The courtyard compounds are called Yi ke Yin (一颗印), which is Chinese for 'seal' because when viewed from above, the layout resembles the familiar shape of the square seal to be seen on traditional Chinese documents and paintings.
We were early, so we were offered the option of sitting inside one of the rooms or in the open courtyard. We chose to sit in the open space of the central patio under the elves of the old buildings to enjoy the views of the red lanterns and the cool air of Kunming.
Red Chinese lanterns all round the courtyard adds to the ambience.
The vintage restaurant serves authentic Yunnan delicacies, including the famous local dish called the steamed pot chicken or Qiguoji (汽锅鸡). We ordered the small pot for 88 RMB and the serving is enough for 3 to 4 persons.
Qiguoji (汽锅鸡) is one of the famous dishes in Yunnan. It has a history of over 200 years in southern Yunnan.
The dish is basically chicken soup steamed in clay pot. The light, delicious, herbal tasting chicken soup is reputed for its benefits, such as nourishing the body, replenishing blood, and enhancing appetite. We just drank the soup as the chicken meat in the soup was mostly bland, with all the flavours and goodness extracted into the broth.
Another Yunnan’s famous dishes we tried is the Yiliang (宜良) roasted duck. The traditional and savory delicacy said to have a history of over 600 years and originated from the town of Yiliang. Apparently, someone in Yiliang went to Beijing during the Qing dynasty to learn how to make Beijing-style roast duck. When he returned to Yiliang, he opened a restaurant using his own adaptation of the Beijing method to roast the area’s small local ducks, and the rest is history.
The Yiliang duck is a smaller version of the more famous Beijing duck, but tasted just as good with crispy skin and tender meat.
The roast duck is served with flowered spring onions, pepper and salt dip, and duck sauce. Unlike Beijing duck, Yiliang duck is meant to be eaten on its own, without pancakes or buns. It goes down well with a glass of cold Kunming beer.
Based on past reviews on the internet, we also ordered the steamed perch. The Cantonese style steamed fish with ginger, soya sauce, spring onions was excellent and the fish was very fresh. Probably a live fish was used for this 168 RMB dish.
For vegetables, we ordered the bracken. It looked and tasted like the midin we had in Kuching, Sarawak. In Sarawak, the midin is a wild fern that thrives in tropical, swampy regions and is commonly stir-fried with garlic, chilli and shrimp paste. Here in Kunming, this bracken was cooked with chilli and brown bean paste to create similar effect.
Bracken with brown bean sauce for 39 RMB.
Unfortunately the dish was served as a cold dish. I would prefer it warm.
The crunchy vegetable was well balanced with enough spiciness from the red chilli slices and yet salty from brown beans sauce. It was quite delicious actually and the portion was huge.
Overall, our dinner at the Yi Ke Yin Kunming Old House Restaurant was enjoyable. The ambience is nice and the food is definitely value for money! Highly recommended for visitors to Kunming.
Nanping Pedestrian Street
The sky was dark when we arrived at the Nanping Pedestrian Street. But not the city centre!
Kunming city center was brightly lit and people were still out and about. Like in Singapore, the malls and shops are opened till 10 pm. We had ample time to check out some stores.
People are dancing in the central plaza. A sign that the locals are generally contented and happy people.
Although we could have taken a taxi back to our hotel, we decided to walk. I felt safe even walking along the smaller back streets of Kunming to our hotel at night.
Overall, my first impression of Kunming is very positive. It is safe and clean and people are friendly. The city has modern amenities and yet there are enough of preserved old buildings for the locals and visitors to appreciate its history. A pleasant place to visit.
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